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March 8, 2010
Death's Bloom
Their remains were sealed in copper canisters. The canisters were stored in the hospital’s basement until the 1970s when they were moved to a memorial vault underground. The vault was subjected to periodic floods. In 2000 they were removed from their institutional crypt, placed on plain pine shelves in a storeroom, and were left virtually forgotten until David Masiel heard of their existence and photographed them....
If all this seems grim, take a look at the canisters again. Their swirl and surge of color reminds me of nothing less than the spectacular images taken through NASA’s Spitzer telescope: the visual identity of the canisters miraculously mirrors that of the universe itself. And yet each rivulet and blossom of color are as distinctive and as personal as the human remains held within. It’s as if the mysterious something that leaves the body at the moment of death, often called the soul, is trying to escape. What's left is evidence of extraordinary beauty. -- Adam Harrison Levy Observatory: Design Observer
Posted by Vanderleun at March 8, 2010 5:01 PM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.
Your Say
It reminds me of what I read about the old Graveyard for the Eloise (the old Wayne County Michigan mental hospital). Unkempt, overgrown, and there was no where in the county's budget to put up a proper fence or cut the grass/weeds.
F*^%ers. There is always enough money to build their 'Golden Pyramids', but never enough to do what they ought to do for the most least in their care.
Twice-yearly burials at sea would be more dignified.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at March 8, 2010 5:42 PM
Reminds *me* of the psychological-horror film Session 9, which takes place in a huge, abandoned mental hospital. A key scene and plot element there involves a crematorium used for the inmates.
Posted by: Aquila at March 8, 2010 6:22 PM
“It’s as if the mysterious something that leaves the body at the moment of death, often called the soul, is trying to escape. What's left is evidence of extraordinary beauty.”
Yes, I’m sure if one was to examine each one closely enough, the face of Jesus appears.
Oh brother.
It’s a simple chemical reaction, nothing more, nothing less. There’s probably millions of the same throughout the world’s garbage dumps, not “evidence of extraordinary beauty”.
Posted by: tim at March 9, 2010 9:48 AM
“It’s as if the mysterious something that leaves the body at the moment of death, often called the soul, is trying to escape. What's left is evidence of extraordinary beauty.”
Yes, I’m sure if one was to examine each one closely enough, the face of Jesus appears.
Oh brother.
It’s a simple chemical reaction, nothing more, nothing less. There’s probably millions of the same throughout the world’s garbage dumps, not “evidence of extraordinary beauty”.
Posted by: tim at March 9, 2010 9:49 AM
Humans as garbage. Thanks, tim.
And so the road to Treblinka is paved.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at March 9, 2010 5:11 PM
Painful. I'm having trouble getting past the horror of those broken minds dying in institutional anonymity.
The real beauty is in the fact of a Masiel or Levy reclaiming human grace for those forgotten ashes.
Posted by: Cathy at March 9, 2010 6:17 PM
"The real beauty is in the fact of a Masiel or Levy reclaiming human grace for those forgotten ashes."
Amen, Cathy.
Posted by: Mikey NTH at March 9, 2010 6:35 PM
Who else thinks that Russia bears walking the streets, and the vodka flows like water?
And anyone can know that in this country the most beautiful girls?
Posted by: Remar at March 22, 2010 7:04 AM